I just finished reading a couple of blog posts by someone I worked with this summer, and I was inspired to write because of it. Problem is, I don't really have anything I want to talk about. I have officially been accepted to the University of Leeds for a term abroad. I'll be there from late January to mid May. It is equal parts thrilling and terrifying. I'm excited about the chance to do some traveling while I'm there though (I have nearly a month long Easter break).
Not much else is new, other than I spent a good chunk of my day standing on tables with my professor. And then creeping said professor on Facebook (I'm still not sure whether I'm glad I did that or not). Less than a month to go, then I'm done the term! It's creeping up quickly and I don't know if I want time to move faster or slower.
368. You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be?
I'm a firm believer in the fact that your experiences shape who you are as a person, thus I wouldn't want to get rid of a horrible experience.
I'm sorry I give such BS psychological answers to some of these questions. Truth is, most of the time I'm too lazy to think of an answer. And sometimes you just need to give a BS answer. Better here than on an exam.
Wednesday, 11 November 2015
Thursday, 5 November 2015
This is the story of a bride in white...
title taken from Holy (Wedding Day) by The City Harmonic
I love this song. I want it played at my wedding at some point, perhaps as I walk down the aisle? Speaking of weddings, I want my first dance to be like this:
My fiancé and I will learn this dance and we will perform it at our wedding.
Ugh. Give me a boyfriend.
367. You can re-live any point of time in your life. The time-span can only be a half-hour, though. What half-hour of your past would you like to experience again?
There isn't a specific time that immediately pops into my head, but I think it would be interesting to re-live a moment from a time I can't remember, but if I could have the consciousness that I have now. The first half-hour of my life, for example, to learn what that was like.
Ugh. Give me a boyfriend.
367. You can re-live any point of time in your life. The time-span can only be a half-hour, though. What half-hour of your past would you like to experience again?
There isn't a specific time that immediately pops into my head, but I think it would be interesting to re-live a moment from a time I can't remember, but if I could have the consciousness that I have now. The first half-hour of my life, for example, to learn what that was like.
Monday, 26 October 2015
Apple and U2: More Like Apple and Not Again
Upon hearing that U2 and Apple have collaborated again, I thought back to a paper that I wrote last year for an English course that I took. I wasn't a huge fan of the course content, but I really enjoyed my professor and she gave me a lot of confidence in my writing abilities. Ever since I wrote this paper, I've been proud of it. It got me a really good mark (93% thank you very much) and my professor loved it. She said I had a good use of subtlety and could get a point across clearly. So I'm going to share it with you (I suppose now would be a good time to mention that the paper I wrote is about when Apple gave everyone with iTunes U2's album Songs of Innocence).
Sunday, 25 October 2015
Hello, can you hear me?
title taken from Adele's new single, "Hello"
A friend just told me about Mark Manson (specifically this and this article). I really enjoyed them both. And it made me think about what my passion is. Truth is, I don't really know. What I do know is that two days I really wanted to do something creative. More specifically, I wanted to create a font. Ever since I got my drawing tablet and found a website that lets you create your own font, I have had a bit of a thing for typography.
On the letters that I send out every week, I like to try and make the envelope a little more interesting than just a name, address, and stamp. This usually results in me putting a lot of effort into writing out their name (and then realizing I didn't leave a lot of room for the address, and therefore have to write it really tiny, but that's not the point). The past couple of letters I've done a geometric type font, and I was fond of it. I decided that I wanted to make the whole font.
When I actually went about creating this font, I realized that I didn't have my sketchbooks with me. I own 5, and I hadn't brought a single one with me to Stratford. Neither did I have my drawing pencils, nor my paints. Anything, really. (I do have some markers and colouring pencils with me). The sad part is that I distinctly remember packing for Stratford and thinking I wouldn't want to be creative, that I wouldn't need any of my tools. And that is where I limited myself. It's true that I don't often have the desire to paint or draw or create fonts. But when they do come around, it really sucks when you don't have the tools to do so.
I got my drawing tablet out (ok, so apparently I do have creative tools with me, just not the right ones) and tried drawing some letters straight into my computer. It didn't go to well. There were two reasons for that: 1) I used Illustrator, which I've only used a handful of times and am not completely aware of how to use properly and 2) it's hard to create a font when you've never done it before. I looked at some articles online about typography and creating fonts, which were enlightening.
But what I really wanted was my sketchbook and a pencil and eraser. Because that was how I wanted to be creative. "Being creative" is such a vague term and I'm lucky that I have so many different ways that I can be creative. Just not the right way, apparently.
After my disappointing first failed attempt at creating a font, I made some origami lotus flowers like the ones in an episode of Sherlock. It took me multiple tries to get it right. I could get all of the folds, but the last step is to invert the petals so they stand up, and it's a lot harder than Sherlock makes it out to me. My main issue is that the paper would rip because it was so thin. I eventually used some tape to reinforce the spot where it always tended to rip, despite the fact that I despise using tape, glue, or scissors in origami. Hopefully one day I can make one without the tape (and no rips).
I've been thinking recently about my term abroad. I am definitely going to blog while I'm away, and it will probably be the main way I tell people in general how I'm doing and what I'm up to. But I can't decide if I want to use this blog or create a new one. If I create a new one, well, I'd have two blogs. And I don't like the idea of having two blogs. It's like one person having two cars. Why do you need two? You can only drive one at a time. It doesn't make sense.
On the other hand, if I use this one, then I run into a bit of a situation. I want more people than the people who know about this blog to be able to hear about my adventures in England. But do I want those people to be able to read everything I've written here over the past 4 years? Because if they're anything like me, I know that they'd go through and read every single post. And I'm pretty sure I don't want that. Also, I'm pretty sure some people (really, just one person that I am thinking of) would get mad at me that I hadn't told them I had a blog.
Fortunately, I have 3 months to think about this. But I don't think the way I stand on either side is going to change over that time, and thus it really isn't that fortunate at all.
(I don't want to toot my own horn here or anything, and I know I've said this before, but I am proud of my writing skills. And I know that sometimes the way sentences sound in my head doesn't always make it to the keyboard, but I could probably be a writer for something. Like a blog that has a purpose, DIY Central or Recipes From Home, not just a personal blog. I think I have a good mastery of the English language, and know how to make it sound good. And using big words is fun. Although I have a tendency to overuse commas. I love 'em :) That's all I have to say).
366. What is your superpower of choice?
Those of Elastigirl, from the Incredibles.
A friend just told me about Mark Manson (specifically this and this article). I really enjoyed them both. And it made me think about what my passion is. Truth is, I don't really know. What I do know is that two days I really wanted to do something creative. More specifically, I wanted to create a font. Ever since I got my drawing tablet and found a website that lets you create your own font, I have had a bit of a thing for typography.
On the letters that I send out every week, I like to try and make the envelope a little more interesting than just a name, address, and stamp. This usually results in me putting a lot of effort into writing out their name (and then realizing I didn't leave a lot of room for the address, and therefore have to write it really tiny, but that's not the point). The past couple of letters I've done a geometric type font, and I was fond of it. I decided that I wanted to make the whole font.
When I actually went about creating this font, I realized that I didn't have my sketchbooks with me. I own 5, and I hadn't brought a single one with me to Stratford. Neither did I have my drawing pencils, nor my paints. Anything, really. (I do have some markers and colouring pencils with me). The sad part is that I distinctly remember packing for Stratford and thinking I wouldn't want to be creative, that I wouldn't need any of my tools. And that is where I limited myself. It's true that I don't often have the desire to paint or draw or create fonts. But when they do come around, it really sucks when you don't have the tools to do so.
I got my drawing tablet out (ok, so apparently I do have creative tools with me, just not the right ones) and tried drawing some letters straight into my computer. It didn't go to well. There were two reasons for that: 1) I used Illustrator, which I've only used a handful of times and am not completely aware of how to use properly and 2) it's hard to create a font when you've never done it before. I looked at some articles online about typography and creating fonts, which were enlightening.
But what I really wanted was my sketchbook and a pencil and eraser. Because that was how I wanted to be creative. "Being creative" is such a vague term and I'm lucky that I have so many different ways that I can be creative. Just not the right way, apparently.
After my disappointing first failed attempt at creating a font, I made some origami lotus flowers like the ones in an episode of Sherlock. It took me multiple tries to get it right. I could get all of the folds, but the last step is to invert the petals so they stand up, and it's a lot harder than Sherlock makes it out to me. My main issue is that the paper would rip because it was so thin. I eventually used some tape to reinforce the spot where it always tended to rip, despite the fact that I despise using tape, glue, or scissors in origami. Hopefully one day I can make one without the tape (and no rips).
I've been thinking recently about my term abroad. I am definitely going to blog while I'm away, and it will probably be the main way I tell people in general how I'm doing and what I'm up to. But I can't decide if I want to use this blog or create a new one. If I create a new one, well, I'd have two blogs. And I don't like the idea of having two blogs. It's like one person having two cars. Why do you need two? You can only drive one at a time. It doesn't make sense.
On the other hand, if I use this one, then I run into a bit of a situation. I want more people than the people who know about this blog to be able to hear about my adventures in England. But do I want those people to be able to read everything I've written here over the past 4 years? Because if they're anything like me, I know that they'd go through and read every single post. And I'm pretty sure I don't want that. Also, I'm pretty sure some people (really, just one person that I am thinking of) would get mad at me that I hadn't told them I had a blog.
Fortunately, I have 3 months to think about this. But I don't think the way I stand on either side is going to change over that time, and thus it really isn't that fortunate at all.
(I don't want to toot my own horn here or anything, and I know I've said this before, but I am proud of my writing skills. And I know that sometimes the way sentences sound in my head doesn't always make it to the keyboard, but I could probably be a writer for something. Like a blog that has a purpose, DIY Central or Recipes From Home, not just a personal blog. I think I have a good mastery of the English language, and know how to make it sound good. And using big words is fun. Although I have a tendency to overuse commas. I love 'em :) That's all I have to say).
366. What is your superpower of choice?
Those of Elastigirl, from the Incredibles.
Monday, 5 October 2015
This article is everything I've ever looked for in one of those "X number of blank you should blank".
Saturday, 3 October 2015
All Alone...
Today was my first day completely alone in this house. It was all good (no worrying about strangers hiding in corners), but it was lonely. I wanted to go for a walk, but it was raining all afternoon, and then it was dark :( Hopefully I'll have the opportunity tomorrow. I've been positively bored all day, regardless of whether I was doing work or avoiding it. I might watch a movie. But to occupy more time, QOTDs.
361. Give me the first thing that comes to mind when you hear "heart".
Body organ.
362. What's your favourite colour?
Green, but verging into teal.
363. What is your current desktop picture?
364. If you could press a button and make anyone in the world instantaneously explode, who would it be?
Although some people are tempting, I wouldn't wish that upon anyone.
365. What would be a question you'd be afraid to tell the truth on?
What's your dirty little secret?
361. Give me the first thing that comes to mind when you hear "heart".
Body organ.
362. What's your favourite colour?
Green, but verging into teal.
363. What is your current desktop picture?
364. If you could press a button and make anyone in the world instantaneously explode, who would it be?
Although some people are tempting, I wouldn't wish that upon anyone.
365. What would be a question you'd be afraid to tell the truth on?
What's your dirty little secret?
Tuesday, 29 September 2015
Let's Do The Time Warp Again
Last year, my New Year's Resolution was to floss my teeth each and every day. That didn't happen every day (but it definitely happened more often than it did previously). Luckily, I had a second resolution: take a picture myself every day. Unfortunately, that also didn't happen every day, but had a much higher success rate than the flossing did. I think I only missed a handful of days all year. And after taking a picture of yourself every day for a year it becomes a bit of a habit, so I continued into this year. I only stopped during the summer when my ipod broke and my phone at the time didn't have a front facing camera. My goal when making this resolution was always to put the pictures together in a slideshow to see them altogether in quick succession. And I've finally gotten around to making that video. So here is 457 pictures of me, taken between Jan 1st, 2014 and June 18th, 2015, in 40 seconds.
My New Year's Resolution this year is to write a letter every week, and it must be delivered through snail mail. So far I'm on track, although sometimes I have difficulty thinking of who to write a letter to. Hopefully I can make it all the way to the end, and I will have finally (100% successfully) completed a New Year's Resolution.
My New Year's Resolution this year is to write a letter every week, and it must be delivered through snail mail. So far I'm on track, although sometimes I have difficulty thinking of who to write a letter to. Hopefully I can make it all the way to the end, and I will have finally (100% successfully) completed a New Year's Resolution.
Thursday, 24 September 2015
'I Want To Walk'
Today I ended up walking to and from campus four times. Which is ironic because the first time I was walking there I told my friends that I wanted to go for a walk. After my first class, I had forgotten that I have a team meeting, so I had to go back to campus. Later I was out in the backyard sitting and doing some of my reading in the sun, and my other roommates left for class and they locked the doors. So then I had to walk to campus to get the keys so that I could get back into the house. And finally I had to go back to campus a fourth time for class. And while not the most interesting route to walk, I'm glad I was able to spend time outside. I'm really excited to be going back up to camp this weekend to help out with the retreat. It will be nice to see Nola again.
Tuesday, 15 September 2015
Long Time No See
If I tried to tell you all about my summer, I could go on for pages and pages until my hands went numb from typing, and still have more stories to tell. So I'm not going to say much. I loved this summer. It was easily the most exhausting and demanding summer I've had at camp, but I loved every minute of it. And I'm so proud of everything I accomplished. From being nervous about how to do my job, to getting into a routine, to becoming comfortable enough to change the routine just for the sake of changing it. Not many 19 year olds can say they ran the entire kitchen operation of a summer camp for 400 people. I loved all of the people I worked with in the kitchen, and all of the people I got to hang out with in my brief times off. I'm going to miss them, and I'm going to miss camp. As much as we get sick of it, I know I would go back to camp in a heartbeat.
Now I'm in Stratford at UWaterloo's satellite campus. I'm not really looking forward to classes (who is?) but I'm really excited about living in Stratford. It's a really nice town. And I'm a small town kind of person. Some (a lot) have decided to commute between Waterloo and Stratford. It will be interesting to see how that works out and how often they miss class because of the commute.
357. How can I win your heart?
I'm not sure, but you can get close to it with food ;)
358. Can insanity bring on more creativity?
Definitely.
359. What is the single best decision you have made in your life so far?
To follow Jesus.
360. What would you want to be written on your tombstone?
Kind of a strange thing to think about. My name, b. date and d. date. A quote, maybe? The reference to my favourite bible verse, whatever it happens to be at the time.
357. How can I win your heart?
I'm not sure, but you can get close to it with food ;)
358. Can insanity bring on more creativity?
Definitely.
359. What is the single best decision you have made in your life so far?
To follow Jesus.
360. What would you want to be written on your tombstone?
Kind of a strange thing to think about. My name, b. date and d. date. A quote, maybe? The reference to my favourite bible verse, whatever it happens to be at the time.
Thursday, 25 June 2015
Wait, Camp?!
Spring is officially done! Our last retreat group left on Wednesday (safe and sound, after surviving a wild thunder storm and a tornado warning). A bunch of us stayed up late on Monday to watch the lightening storm. It wasn't raining and there was hardly any thunder, but there was lightening almost every 30 seconds. It was so cool to sit in the field and watch it flash across the sky. There were some streaks that would go horizontal, which was pretty neat.
Right now I have two days off, whereas most other people have one day off. I realized a while ago that there wouldn't need to be any meals served today (Thursday), so Nola (my partner in nutritional provision) and I had no reason to be there. One day off! But then I got thinking and the only person it would affect if either Nola or I were missing would be the other. So if we were both down to do a day on our own, then we could have more days off. So Nola got Wednesday and Thursday, and I get Thursday and Friday. A pretty sweet deal, if I do say so myself. I'm glad I'll have extra time to rest before camp starts. I realized belatedly that I wouldn't be there when all the staff arrive tonight and would miss all the introductions, but I've come to be okay with it. Most people already know who I am anyways ;)
It's really hard to believe that in 3 days camp starts! We're going to need to make 93 pizzas to feed everyone Sunday dinner. Luckily, I have another oven now! This extra oven is a life saver; we now have double the oven space that we did before. (Where the two ovens are stacked on top of each other we used to only have one). What used to take 3hrs to bake can now be done in 1.5hrs. It is going to make my life to much easier and less stressful.
I also just found out that the girl who did my position last year is going to come up for part of this week to help out, which I'm really grateful for. I'm not as stressed as I thought I would be. I thought I would be worried about how many people I have to feed (this week it's 312). It will be a bigger number than I've ever done before, but we've had meals during the spring with over 250 people, so it's not a huge jump. And I've become more confident in myself in this position, as well as gained a lot more knowledge about prep time and quantities.
It's going to be a wild summer, but I couldn't be more excited for everything that's going to happen :)
354. You are at the doctor's office and she informs you that you have one month to live.
a) Do you tell anyone/everyone you are going to die?
I would tell my family and close friends. And probably the people at camp as well since that's where I am right now.
b) What do you do with your remaining days?
I would probably want to spend some of it at camp. I wouldn't do FSD, I'd probably wander and do whatever I wanted to do (climb high ropes) and just hang out with people.
c) Would you be afraid?
Yes, but I think that within the month given I would come to terms with it.
355. What's a song that always makes you happy when you hear it?
Blame It On The Boogie by The Jacksons
356. In your opinion, what makes a great relationship?
Love, honesty, trustworthiness, humour, dependability, basically everything lined out in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8: 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.
Right now I have two days off, whereas most other people have one day off. I realized a while ago that there wouldn't need to be any meals served today (Thursday), so Nola (my partner in nutritional provision) and I had no reason to be there. One day off! But then I got thinking and the only person it would affect if either Nola or I were missing would be the other. So if we were both down to do a day on our own, then we could have more days off. So Nola got Wednesday and Thursday, and I get Thursday and Friday. A pretty sweet deal, if I do say so myself. I'm glad I'll have extra time to rest before camp starts. I realized belatedly that I wouldn't be there when all the staff arrive tonight and would miss all the introductions, but I've come to be okay with it. Most people already know who I am anyways ;)
It's really hard to believe that in 3 days camp starts! We're going to need to make 93 pizzas to feed everyone Sunday dinner. Luckily, I have another oven now! This extra oven is a life saver; we now have double the oven space that we did before. (Where the two ovens are stacked on top of each other we used to only have one). What used to take 3hrs to bake can now be done in 1.5hrs. It is going to make my life to much easier and less stressful.
It's going to be a wild summer, but I couldn't be more excited for everything that's going to happen :)
354. You are at the doctor's office and she informs you that you have one month to live.
a) Do you tell anyone/everyone you are going to die?
I would tell my family and close friends. And probably the people at camp as well since that's where I am right now.
b) What do you do with your remaining days?
I would probably want to spend some of it at camp. I wouldn't do FSD, I'd probably wander and do whatever I wanted to do (climb high ropes) and just hang out with people.
c) Would you be afraid?
Yes, but I think that within the month given I would come to terms with it.
355. What's a song that always makes you happy when you hear it?
Blame It On The Boogie by The Jacksons
356. In your opinion, what makes a great relationship?
Love, honesty, trustworthiness, humour, dependability, basically everything lined out in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8: 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.
Saturday, 6 June 2015
350. Where is your best friend?
Toronto.
351. What were you doing last night at 12am?
Trying to fall asleep.
352. Are you the kind of friend you would want to have as a friend?
If this is to mean would I want a friend with the same personality as myself, I would say no because as a quiet person, us hanging out would just be a lot of awkward silence, I think. But in terms of what I do for my friends and the effort I put into my friendships, yeah I would have myself as a friend. I am not the one to suggest hanging out often, being an introvert, so I would be okay with that. I don't know. This is too much thinking for my tired brain.
353. You are walking down the street on your way to work. There is a dog drowning in the canal on the side of the street. Your boss has told you that if you are late one more time you're fired. What do you do?
For the record, I think punctuality is key so would never be in the situation of late-one-more-time-and-you're-fired. That aside, I would keep walking and not save the dog.
Toronto.
351. What were you doing last night at 12am?
Trying to fall asleep.
352. Are you the kind of friend you would want to have as a friend?
If this is to mean would I want a friend with the same personality as myself, I would say no because as a quiet person, us hanging out would just be a lot of awkward silence, I think. But in terms of what I do for my friends and the effort I put into my friendships, yeah I would have myself as a friend. I am not the one to suggest hanging out often, being an introvert, so I would be okay with that. I don't know. This is too much thinking for my tired brain.
353. You are walking down the street on your way to work. There is a dog drowning in the canal on the side of the street. Your boss has told you that if you are late one more time you're fired. What do you do?
For the record, I think punctuality is key so would never be in the situation of late-one-more-time-and-you're-fired. That aside, I would keep walking and not save the dog.
X
Yesterday I went to the Ed Sheeran concert in London with Em and I had a blast. He is so good live. He uses a loop machine, where he will play, hum, or make a beat for a bar, and then it will repeat, so he can make all of the sounds himself. It was so cool to watch him make all the sounds himself. And it causes for more anticipation because when he starts off, you can't tell what song it is until he actually starts playing the guitar, or adds a more recognizable beat. He was the only one on the stage for the entire performance. The opening act was Foy Vance. I have one song by them, but don't know them super well. I enjoyed their music though. It was just a really fun time; it's been so long since I've gone out to an event like that with friends.
Before the concert, I was at my sisters graduation. Congratulations Alison! I'm so proud of everything you've accomplished so far and can't wait to see what you'll do in the future.
Before the concert, I was at my sisters graduation. Congratulations Alison! I'm so proud of everything you've accomplished so far and can't wait to see what you'll do in the future.
Tuesday, 26 May 2015
A Peek Into the Life of a Food Service Director
I suppose it's been awhile. My go-to thing to do when I'm bored isn't blogging any more...now it's usually reading or Netflix :) But I finished my book and you can only watch so much Netflix at a time, so here I am (also I was told to by a certain BFFLAAT).
This past week at camp was hard and tiring, especially at the end. We had our first school group, Matthews Hall from London. Then we had a couple days with just the staff before a youth group retreat came up for the weekend. I screwed up two times: the first was with Matthews Hall. We made roast beef, but not enough. I panicked and was sitting on the floor of the kitchen not sure what to do. I just froze. Luckily, Nola, my kitchen partner (and debatable more-kitchen-abled) did not panic and/or freeze like I did, and started thinking of a solution. Aaron also helped, which surprised me a bit. It's taken me a while to get used to the fact that he's the go-to person in charge right now, not Reagan. Aaron was the one who convinced me to get off the floor and find a solution. Everybody at Matthews Hall had eaten but the staff had not, so we made chicken tacos for them. They were all very understanding and didn't get mad (at least to my face), but I was still beating myself up for it, and was for a couple days. And of course after that I was nervous every time I figured out quantities because I didn't want to screw up again. Everything was going fine until I screwed up again: this time with the youth group retreat over the weekend. We were having tacos/fajitas/whatever you want to call them for lunch and we ran out of ground beef (clearly beef is not my strong point. Probably in part because we don't order it through Flanagans and is really expensive). So we made more chicken (the chicken we use at camp is already diced and fully cooked, so makes for an easy prep). At least that time I think everybody, except for a few stragglers, had eaten and people just wanted seconds. I dealt with that situation much more professionally than the first. Nola and I didn't end up eating until 2pm. Aaron had gone to town when the beef ran out, and he bought me a sub from subway :)
And then Saturday afternoon happened. Most people don't know about this, because it all happened in the kitchen, and not around meal times. Nola and I were in the kitchen, trying to increase the amount of chilli we had prepared for dinner. We were adding beans and veggies and all forms of tomato: diced, sauce, paste. We even debated adding condensed tomato soup (that didn't end up happening). Now keep in mind that Nola and I had been in the kitchen since before 7 that morning. All of this is being added to a huge pot - easily a diameter wider than my shoulder width and as tall as my torso. We weren't sure how many people it would feed, and there were 160 of us that needed to eat. So we start lining up ladles along the edges and sides of the pot to try and figure out how many servings we
could get out of this thing. We even took a picture to send to Catherine to see what she thought.
(this picture does not do the size of the pot justice)
We had a range of guesses, ranging from 75 to 114. Regardless, not enough to feed everyone. So we start whipping up another pot of chilli. We cooked some more ground beef, start grabbing veggies and all our cans of tomatoes in various forms. The only problem is, we used so many of our cans of tomatoes and beans on the first pot trying to bulk it up that there wasn't many left for this second pot. So we added in all that we had, and it still wasn't tomato-y enough to be considered "chilli". So I start looking up how to make homemade tomato sauce because we have a box of tomatoes in the fridge. I had never before peeled a tomato, and I don't think I ever will again, but it was interesting at the time. Needless to say I did not have the 90 mins to let it simmer on the stove and added it straight into the pot.
So there we were, Nola and I on our step-stool (because the pots are so tall), using wooden juice paddles to stir the pots of chilli (because nothing else was long enough to reach the bottom of the pot), and the sanity had left the building. We said that we didn't have any sanity left, because it was a key ingredient in the chilli. There were also multiple mentions of leaving camp and never coming back.
When it was dinner time, we had to ask two of the guys on staff to move the pot because all Nola and I could do was nudge it in circles on the stovetop. We had managed to created almost another full pot of chilli. I knew that was really too much, but I had been told by Aaron, from Tyler, to "make enough, and don't worry about leftovers". Well Tyler, it's hard not to when you still haven't given me a budget. (As a result, I've decided that if this special meal deal* that Nola and I are doing for the staff goes over budget, camp will step in and cover the rest). Aaron came up to me and asked how it was going, as he has made the habit of doing around meal times, and all I had to say to him was "If they eat both pots of chilli, I'm handing in my two weeks notice**". And I wasn't even completely joking. Aaron, having not yet seen the pots of chilli, said "Don't say that!" I just walked away. He walks into the kitchen, where Em was because she was helping prep dinner, and sees the pots of chilli and goes "Whoooooooooooa..." Em then says something along the lines of 'that's why she's threatening to hand in her two weeks' because THERE IS A RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF CHILLI.
Dinner starts, and the buffet line starts moving. I keep checking up on the pot of chilli and it seems to be going down at a reasonable amount. Everybody has gone through the line; people start coming back for seconds (more for the homemade buns than the chilli). Nola and I approach the pot. The bottom has just been exposed. We fed all 160 people. With one pot of chilli. I couldn't even get angry because I was just so done with everything. So the camp freezer currently holds a pot of chilli large enough to feed over 100 people.
And still we were not done. There was popcorn for a late night snack, and while popcorn is easy to make, it is very time consuming. My day did not get any better when Aaron said that instead of 9:40, the group wanted their snack bumped to 10:15. Nola and I were joined by Rebecca in making popcorn and putting it into paper bags to be handed out. We started right after dinner, and finished around 9:30. And we missed the fireworks that the group was letting off at the beach. I later found out that the spring staff had taken group pictures down at the beach after the fireworks, so I was bummed that I had missed out on that. At the final count, Nola and I had been in the kitchen for over 16hrs straight.
On Sunday, everything went fine food wise, but then we had cleaning to do. Clean up takes a long time, and people just want to go home, so it's always a rough process. Aaron was helping, which I appreciated because I would peg him as the kind of guy to disappear until everything was cleaned. But the thing that really got me down was that the debrief meeting that we always have after a group leaves was held while people were still cleaning in the kitchen. I know I wasn't missing much, because we just discuss how we felt the retreat went, but I felt really left out. Especially after that weekend, where I had hardly any time to relax and hang out with people.
I know that some exclusion comes from working in the kitchen - that was a lesson I learned last year - but I never felt as left out as I did on Sunday while cleaning up and leaving. I understand why the meeting happened when it did, people were done cleaning and wanted to go home. But I felt like I hadn't talked or even sat down with someone other than Nola in days. People come by to help prep or clean up, but I can't really relax and chat with them then. I can't even talk to people during meals because during the meal we have to watch the buffet and replace food when it runs out. By the time Nola and I are eating, everyone else is already done and gone. Often we just end up eating on the counters in the kitchen because there's no longer any reason to go eat somewhere else. I'm going to mention it to Reagan, because I feel like I need to tell someone about how the meeting didn't happen when all the staff were present. And I just also need to get it off my chest, which this has helped with a bit. Hopefully this upcoming week is better.
*The Special Meal Deal: in hindsight, probably a bad idea on my part in terms of stress and extra work required, but hopefully it works out. Nola and I came up with this because the meals that the spring staff have together alone are dwindling quickly. We pitched to the staff that if they each brought in $3, then we (Nola and I) would make them a meal of their choosing that is not limited by camp's (non-existant) budget or food/ingredients, for a dinner this coming week where it's just spring staff. They were all for it, and so this Friday dinner will include guacamole, chicken breasts with goat cheese, stir fry and some sort of dessert (Nola wants to make cheesecake).
**Handing in our two weeks notice has become something of a joke between a handful of us at camp. A couple weeks ago Em, Aaron and I were chatting about the changes at camp that we didn't like/agree with. We were jokingly threatening to hand in our two weeks notice of quitting our jobs. We all agreed that if one of us did it, the others would. We then went to see Reagan and told her about this. I asked her what she'd do, and without missing a beat she said "I'd hand in mine as well." :D
This past week at camp was hard and tiring, especially at the end. We had our first school group, Matthews Hall from London. Then we had a couple days with just the staff before a youth group retreat came up for the weekend. I screwed up two times: the first was with Matthews Hall. We made roast beef, but not enough. I panicked and was sitting on the floor of the kitchen not sure what to do. I just froze. Luckily, Nola, my kitchen partner (and debatable more-kitchen-abled) did not panic and/or freeze like I did, and started thinking of a solution. Aaron also helped, which surprised me a bit. It's taken me a while to get used to the fact that he's the go-to person in charge right now, not Reagan. Aaron was the one who convinced me to get off the floor and find a solution. Everybody at Matthews Hall had eaten but the staff had not, so we made chicken tacos for them. They were all very understanding and didn't get mad (at least to my face), but I was still beating myself up for it, and was for a couple days. And of course after that I was nervous every time I figured out quantities because I didn't want to screw up again. Everything was going fine until I screwed up again: this time with the youth group retreat over the weekend. We were having tacos/fajitas/whatever you want to call them for lunch and we ran out of ground beef (clearly beef is not my strong point. Probably in part because we don't order it through Flanagans and is really expensive). So we made more chicken (the chicken we use at camp is already diced and fully cooked, so makes for an easy prep). At least that time I think everybody, except for a few stragglers, had eaten and people just wanted seconds. I dealt with that situation much more professionally than the first. Nola and I didn't end up eating until 2pm. Aaron had gone to town when the beef ran out, and he bought me a sub from subway :)
And then Saturday afternoon happened. Most people don't know about this, because it all happened in the kitchen, and not around meal times. Nola and I were in the kitchen, trying to increase the amount of chilli we had prepared for dinner. We were adding beans and veggies and all forms of tomato: diced, sauce, paste. We even debated adding condensed tomato soup (that didn't end up happening). Now keep in mind that Nola and I had been in the kitchen since before 7 that morning. All of this is being added to a huge pot - easily a diameter wider than my shoulder width and as tall as my torso. We weren't sure how many people it would feed, and there were 160 of us that needed to eat. So we start lining up ladles along the edges and sides of the pot to try and figure out how many servings we
could get out of this thing. We even took a picture to send to Catherine to see what she thought.
We had a range of guesses, ranging from 75 to 114. Regardless, not enough to feed everyone. So we start whipping up another pot of chilli. We cooked some more ground beef, start grabbing veggies and all our cans of tomatoes in various forms. The only problem is, we used so many of our cans of tomatoes and beans on the first pot trying to bulk it up that there wasn't many left for this second pot. So we added in all that we had, and it still wasn't tomato-y enough to be considered "chilli". So I start looking up how to make homemade tomato sauce because we have a box of tomatoes in the fridge. I had never before peeled a tomato, and I don't think I ever will again, but it was interesting at the time. Needless to say I did not have the 90 mins to let it simmer on the stove and added it straight into the pot.
So there we were, Nola and I on our step-stool (because the pots are so tall), using wooden juice paddles to stir the pots of chilli (because nothing else was long enough to reach the bottom of the pot), and the sanity had left the building. We said that we didn't have any sanity left, because it was a key ingredient in the chilli. There were also multiple mentions of leaving camp and never coming back.
When it was dinner time, we had to ask two of the guys on staff to move the pot because all Nola and I could do was nudge it in circles on the stovetop. We had managed to created almost another full pot of chilli. I knew that was really too much, but I had been told by Aaron, from Tyler, to "make enough, and don't worry about leftovers". Well Tyler, it's hard not to when you still haven't given me a budget. (As a result, I've decided that if this special meal deal* that Nola and I are doing for the staff goes over budget, camp will step in and cover the rest). Aaron came up to me and asked how it was going, as he has made the habit of doing around meal times, and all I had to say to him was "If they eat both pots of chilli, I'm handing in my two weeks notice**". And I wasn't even completely joking. Aaron, having not yet seen the pots of chilli, said "Don't say that!" I just walked away. He walks into the kitchen, where Em was because she was helping prep dinner, and sees the pots of chilli and goes "Whoooooooooooa..." Em then says something along the lines of 'that's why she's threatening to hand in her two weeks' because THERE IS A RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF CHILLI.
Dinner starts, and the buffet line starts moving. I keep checking up on the pot of chilli and it seems to be going down at a reasonable amount. Everybody has gone through the line; people start coming back for seconds (more for the homemade buns than the chilli). Nola and I approach the pot. The bottom has just been exposed. We fed all 160 people. With one pot of chilli. I couldn't even get angry because I was just so done with everything. So the camp freezer currently holds a pot of chilli large enough to feed over 100 people.
And still we were not done. There was popcorn for a late night snack, and while popcorn is easy to make, it is very time consuming. My day did not get any better when Aaron said that instead of 9:40, the group wanted their snack bumped to 10:15. Nola and I were joined by Rebecca in making popcorn and putting it into paper bags to be handed out. We started right after dinner, and finished around 9:30. And we missed the fireworks that the group was letting off at the beach. I later found out that the spring staff had taken group pictures down at the beach after the fireworks, so I was bummed that I had missed out on that. At the final count, Nola and I had been in the kitchen for over 16hrs straight.
On Sunday, everything went fine food wise, but then we had cleaning to do. Clean up takes a long time, and people just want to go home, so it's always a rough process. Aaron was helping, which I appreciated because I would peg him as the kind of guy to disappear until everything was cleaned. But the thing that really got me down was that the debrief meeting that we always have after a group leaves was held while people were still cleaning in the kitchen. I know I wasn't missing much, because we just discuss how we felt the retreat went, but I felt really left out. Especially after that weekend, where I had hardly any time to relax and hang out with people.
I know that some exclusion comes from working in the kitchen - that was a lesson I learned last year - but I never felt as left out as I did on Sunday while cleaning up and leaving. I understand why the meeting happened when it did, people were done cleaning and wanted to go home. But I felt like I hadn't talked or even sat down with someone other than Nola in days. People come by to help prep or clean up, but I can't really relax and chat with them then. I can't even talk to people during meals because during the meal we have to watch the buffet and replace food when it runs out. By the time Nola and I are eating, everyone else is already done and gone. Often we just end up eating on the counters in the kitchen because there's no longer any reason to go eat somewhere else. I'm going to mention it to Reagan, because I feel like I need to tell someone about how the meeting didn't happen when all the staff were present. And I just also need to get it off my chest, which this has helped with a bit. Hopefully this upcoming week is better.
*The Special Meal Deal: in hindsight, probably a bad idea on my part in terms of stress and extra work required, but hopefully it works out. Nola and I came up with this because the meals that the spring staff have together alone are dwindling quickly. We pitched to the staff that if they each brought in $3, then we (Nola and I) would make them a meal of their choosing that is not limited by camp's (non-existant) budget or food/ingredients, for a dinner this coming week where it's just spring staff. They were all for it, and so this Friday dinner will include guacamole, chicken breasts with goat cheese, stir fry and some sort of dessert (Nola wants to make cheesecake).
**Handing in our two weeks notice has become something of a joke between a handful of us at camp. A couple weeks ago Em, Aaron and I were chatting about the changes at camp that we didn't like/agree with. We were jokingly threatening to hand in our two weeks notice of quitting our jobs. We all agreed that if one of us did it, the others would. We then went to see Reagan and told her about this. I asked her what she'd do, and without missing a beat she said "I'd hand in mine as well." :D
Saturday, 16 May 2015
The calm before the storm
I can't believe the first two weeks are over already. No more just staff; school groups and retreats start next week. I'm kind of nervous about doing school groups, but I'm more worried about just getting stuff done on time and making sure that I represent Forest Cliff well. I also got my very own Forest Cliff email :) I truly have reached the top.
I moved into Cookys this past week (the cabin behind the dining hall). I love my room and having my own space, but that building has no insulation and it went down to zero at night. So it was a few very cold nights. Hopefully it only gets warmer from here on out. Reagan is my roomie, and I'm super excited to get to live with her all summer. She's been such a mentor and inspiration to me ever since I met her. And she's quietly hilarious ;)
346. Love or lust?
Love.
347. In a relationship?
Still no.
348. How many relationships have you had?
Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada.
349. What is your secret weapon to get someone to like you?
Clearly not a very strong one.
I moved into Cookys this past week (the cabin behind the dining hall). I love my room and having my own space, but that building has no insulation and it went down to zero at night. So it was a few very cold nights. Hopefully it only gets warmer from here on out. Reagan is my roomie, and I'm super excited to get to live with her all summer. She's been such a mentor and inspiration to me ever since I met her. And she's quietly hilarious ;)
346. Love or lust?
Love.
347. In a relationship?
Still no.
348. How many relationships have you had?
Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada.
349. What is your secret weapon to get someone to like you?
Clearly not a very strong one.
Sunday, 26 April 2015
BORED
I can't believe I'm done second year university. And I'm never going back to Waterloo again. This is wild to think about. And in a week, I'll be heading up to camp. I'm really excited to be going back to camp to be with all these awesome people. But I'm really nervous about actually doing my job (seeing as I don't actually know how to do it...).
I'm bored, so lots of questions today...
339. Do you drive? If so, have you ever crashed?
I love to drive, and no, I've never crashed.
340. What's the worst injury you've ever had?
I tore the cartilage in my knee while I was in high school...apparently sometimes I still limp because of it.
341. Do you have any obsessions right now?
Finding things I no longer want and posting them on kijiji.
342. Ever had a rumour spread about you?
Not that I know of.
343. Do you tend to hold grudges against people who have done you wrong?
No. I suck at holding grudges. Which when I discover that someone is still holding a grudge about something that happened X time ago, I'm shocked. For a long time I didn't know that holding grudges for a long time was even a thing.
344. What is your astrological sign?
Virgo.
345. What's the last thing you purchased?
Groceries.
I'm bored, so lots of questions today...
339. Do you drive? If so, have you ever crashed?
I love to drive, and no, I've never crashed.
340. What's the worst injury you've ever had?
I tore the cartilage in my knee while I was in high school...apparently sometimes I still limp because of it.
341. Do you have any obsessions right now?
Finding things I no longer want and posting them on kijiji.
342. Ever had a rumour spread about you?
Not that I know of.
343. Do you tend to hold grudges against people who have done you wrong?
No. I suck at holding grudges. Which when I discover that someone is still holding a grudge about something that happened X time ago, I'm shocked. For a long time I didn't know that holding grudges for a long time was even a thing.
344. What is your astrological sign?
Virgo.
345. What's the last thing you purchased?
Groceries.
Friday, 24 April 2015
Thursday, 23 April 2015
Running from the dark but I just can't hide
title taken from 'Losing Sleep' by John Newman
Do you ever not want to go to bed, even though you're exhausted?
2 down, one more exam to go. It's stats, which I though I would be worried about, but I'm feeling pretty good about it. And then I can finally go home. For a week, then I'll be off to camp! I'm really excited about going back to camp, but I'm also freaking out inside because I have no idea how to my job. I know logically, of all the potential people to work in the kitchen, I have more knowledge than most because I worked there last summer. But that does not mean I have any idea what I'm doing. I'm going up to camp for a day to talk to the representative from our food supplier, so hopefully that will clue me in on how things go a little bit.
337. What's the worst place you've ever been to?
Wow, I don't know. I can't think of a place that's actually bad. There was one time I was disappointed about a place. There's an old house in Uptown Waterloo that's been converted into a book store. It's called Old Goat Books, and looked really cute and old in a kind of hipster kind of way. So I decided to go in, but it was just books on book shelves. There wasn't any of the charm that I was thinking would be inside. Not the worst place I've been to, but one of the disappointing ones.
338. Most attractive singer/s of your opposite gender?
I think Dan Smith of Bastille is pretty cute.
Do you ever not want to go to bed, even though you're exhausted?
2 down, one more exam to go. It's stats, which I though I would be worried about, but I'm feeling pretty good about it. And then I can finally go home. For a week, then I'll be off to camp! I'm really excited about going back to camp, but I'm also freaking out inside because I have no idea how to my job. I know logically, of all the potential people to work in the kitchen, I have more knowledge than most because I worked there last summer. But that does not mean I have any idea what I'm doing. I'm going up to camp for a day to talk to the representative from our food supplier, so hopefully that will clue me in on how things go a little bit.
337. What's the worst place you've ever been to?
Wow, I don't know. I can't think of a place that's actually bad. There was one time I was disappointed about a place. There's an old house in Uptown Waterloo that's been converted into a book store. It's called Old Goat Books, and looked really cute and old in a kind of hipster kind of way. So I decided to go in, but it was just books on book shelves. There wasn't any of the charm that I was thinking would be inside. Not the worst place I've been to, but one of the disappointing ones.
338. Most attractive singer/s of your opposite gender?
I think Dan Smith of Bastille is pretty cute.
Tuesday, 14 April 2015
I love to read the words you used
title taken from 'Thing We Lost in the Fire' by Bastille
331. Are you happy with the person you've become?
There was no hesitation in my mind when I thought "I am".
332. What's a sound you hate; sound you love?
I hate the sound of styrofoam pieces rubbing against each other. I also hate every tune I have ever used as my wake up alarm. I love the sound of rain falling when inside a car.
333. What's your biggest 'what if'?
What if I never find love?
334. Do you believe in ghosts? What about aliens?
No and no (although I would be open to convincing about small organisms on other planets).
335. Stick your right arm out; what's the first thing you touch? Do the same with your left arm.
Right: the wall.
Left: my pillow.
336. Smell the air. What do you smell?
My bourbon butterscotch candle.
331. Are you happy with the person you've become?
There was no hesitation in my mind when I thought "I am".
332. What's a sound you hate; sound you love?
I hate the sound of styrofoam pieces rubbing against each other. I also hate every tune I have ever used as my wake up alarm. I love the sound of rain falling when inside a car.
333. What's your biggest 'what if'?
What if I never find love?
334. Do you believe in ghosts? What about aliens?
No and no (although I would be open to convincing about small organisms on other planets).
335. Stick your right arm out; what's the first thing you touch? Do the same with your left arm.
Right: the wall.
Left: my pillow.
336. Smell the air. What do you smell?
My bourbon butterscotch candle.
Tuesday, 31 March 2015
They're studying business, I study the floor
title taken from "A World Alone" by Lorde
Today I presented my mobile narrative about Knox Presbyterian Church in Stratford. It didn't go too well, because there was no one at the church and the doors were all locked, despite the fact that I told the church that we were going to be there and they had confirmed it with me. I heard back later from them and the lady said there was an emergency and she had to watch her grandson. So I understand; things happen, no biggie. But then she also said "I totally forgot". Which makes me a little less understanding. I'm a little disappointed that people couldn't experience the mobile narrative as it was supposed to be. But we still got compliments on it. I was really proud to have been chosen to be in the Student Showcase and have the opportunity to show it to a bunch of people. Hopefully it gets a good mark (it's worth 50% of my grade!).
And as of now, I'm basically coasting. I have three lectures left; one is a review session and one is just watching other groups present their projects. So not strenuous in any way. Three more days, then I'm headed home. Brief moment of true relaxation and then exams -_- I got my stats midterm back: 95.2% baby! Highest mark in the class, and it's worth 30% of my final grade :)
I was complimented the other day on my writing. One of my group projects was to write up a case study report, so we were working in a google doc together. They said, "You have great vocabulary. It's like reading a real journal article!" It made me really happy :) I know my love language is acts of service, but more and more I feel like it's words of affirmation. I never thought I was a particularly great writer, but my university experience has taught me otherwise. Some of the things I read written by my classmates is appalling. I seriously wonder how they passed English in high school. I'm not saying I'm the best writer, but I'm definitely better than the apparent average of my program. I love it when you write a sentence, and you just want to bold it and underline it and read it out to everybody, because it's perfect - couldn't have been said better. That's my favourite :D
329. How do you vent your anger?
Through rants to people who are not involved in the cause of the anger and/or can relate to my anger.
330. Do you have a collection of anything?
Oh, do I ever.
- stamps
- coins
- mini books
- objects that are not their normal size (particularly in the stationary / office department)
- Lego Minifigures
I used to have a lot of other collections as well:
- small little rubber lizards that were in the goodie jar at the dentist
- mini keychain board games
- Kinder Egg surprise toys
- mini erasers
But in fits of rage about having too much junk, those ones have been disposed of. I used to pride myself on my collection of collections.
Today I presented my mobile narrative about Knox Presbyterian Church in Stratford. It didn't go too well, because there was no one at the church and the doors were all locked, despite the fact that I told the church that we were going to be there and they had confirmed it with me. I heard back later from them and the lady said there was an emergency and she had to watch her grandson. So I understand; things happen, no biggie. But then she also said "I totally forgot". Which makes me a little less understanding. I'm a little disappointed that people couldn't experience the mobile narrative as it was supposed to be. But we still got compliments on it. I was really proud to have been chosen to be in the Student Showcase and have the opportunity to show it to a bunch of people. Hopefully it gets a good mark (it's worth 50% of my grade!).
And as of now, I'm basically coasting. I have three lectures left; one is a review session and one is just watching other groups present their projects. So not strenuous in any way. Three more days, then I'm headed home. Brief moment of true relaxation and then exams -_- I got my stats midterm back: 95.2% baby! Highest mark in the class, and it's worth 30% of my final grade :)
I was complimented the other day on my writing. One of my group projects was to write up a case study report, so we were working in a google doc together. They said, "You have great vocabulary. It's like reading a real journal article!" It made me really happy :) I know my love language is acts of service, but more and more I feel like it's words of affirmation. I never thought I was a particularly great writer, but my university experience has taught me otherwise. Some of the things I read written by my classmates is appalling. I seriously wonder how they passed English in high school. I'm not saying I'm the best writer, but I'm definitely better than the apparent average of my program. I love it when you write a sentence, and you just want to bold it and underline it and read it out to everybody, because it's perfect - couldn't have been said better. That's my favourite :D
329. How do you vent your anger?
Through rants to people who are not involved in the cause of the anger and/or can relate to my anger.
330. Do you have a collection of anything?
Oh, do I ever.
- stamps
- coins
- mini books
- objects that are not their normal size (particularly in the stationary / office department)
- Lego Minifigures
I used to have a lot of other collections as well:
- small little rubber lizards that were in the goodie jar at the dentist
- mini keychain board games
- Kinder Egg surprise toys
- mini erasers
But in fits of rage about having too much junk, those ones have been disposed of. I used to pride myself on my collection of collections.
Saturday, 28 March 2015
I was riding the bus and there were these two guys talking about how close University of Winnipeg was to the University of Manitoba. "They're only, like, 40mins away from each other!". And all I could think was, "You are currently in Waterloo, where there are two universities quite literally 5mins away from each other."
326. What does your URL mean?
obsessionsareme: I have a lot of obsessions. But I'm pretty sure the URL "obsessions" was taken. So this was the next best thing that I could think of.
327. What is your greatest weakness? Your greatest strength?
What is this, an interview? I think my greatest weakness is my lack of empathy for others. I struggle to feel what others feel. My greatest strength would probably be, I don't know how to say it, my self-control? When something needs to happen, I make sure it happens, even if I don't want to do it. And if I shouldn't do it, I won't.
328. Who is your celebrity crush?
Benedict Cumberbatch.
326. What does your URL mean?
obsessionsareme: I have a lot of obsessions. But I'm pretty sure the URL "obsessions" was taken. So this was the next best thing that I could think of.
327. What is your greatest weakness? Your greatest strength?
What is this, an interview? I think my greatest weakness is my lack of empathy for others. I struggle to feel what others feel. My greatest strength would probably be, I don't know how to say it, my self-control? When something needs to happen, I make sure it happens, even if I don't want to do it. And if I shouldn't do it, I won't.
328. Who is your celebrity crush?
Benedict Cumberbatch.
Sunday, 22 March 2015
They said get back Honky Cat
title from "Honky Cat" by Elton John
I'm glad I got to spend the weekend at home. I don't have a ton of work right now (strange, I know) so I would've just been sitting around my apartment with nothing to do. And now it's only going to be a couple weeks before I'm back again. My last day of lectures is on April 6th, which also happens to be Easter Monday. I thought that I wouldn't be able to go home till the weekend after. But apparently instead of the 6th being our normal classes, they're just bumping the Friday that we have off for Good Friday to Monday. And on Friday the only thing I have is a lab, which my prof said isn't happening since it's the last week. So I can come home for Easter :) And then I don't have an exam till the 17th, so I'll stay at home for a week, then go back. But to be honest, I wish my exams were all a week earlier so that I could be completely done earlier. Oh well. I'm not really stressed right now. In one of my classes I just have to do a presentation and then the rest of the time I'm just watching other people's presentations. Another class is the same situation. I'm not really sure what we're doing in one class, but there's no exam for that class so I'm not really concerned. There's really only two classes that I still am doing work in. Ha. It's funny I should think about this now because just earlier today I was talking to a family friend who is a teacher and she was saying that one of the hardest things for grade 9's to get used to is doing work right up until the end (as apposed to slacking off during the last month). But this semester is weird in that way - the rest of my semesters have definitely not been like this.
One thing I did this weekend was play old records on my grandma's record player that she said I could have. She also gave us a bunch of records. I love it. I just love looking at it and knowing that somehow the needle is picking up the music and sending it through the speakers. One of the only artists that I'm familiar with that my grandma had a record of was Elton John, so we were listening to his greatest hits as of 1970. The one thing that's annoying is that you have to flip the record over half way through the album. I don't mind doing it, but you only get like 15mins of music before you have to get up again and flip it over. But that aside, I really like it and if anyone wants to buy me a record of a modern album I'd probably love you forever.
I can't wait for camp to start :)
323. Simple but extremely complex. Favourite band?
Band, being more than one person and not just a singer, would probably have to be Bastille.
324. What was the last lie you told?
I have to spend 20hrs with my international peer mentee, and for our last meeting we spent just over an hour together, but on the sheet I wrote down that we spent 1.5hrs together.
325. Do you believe in karma?
Not really. Simple put, karma is "what goes around comes around". I believe that God will judge you based on your actions, so if you've been bad, then He'll treat you badly. But that's kind of a broader scope than I think karma looks at. I don't think that because I do something good today that something good will happen to me next week.
I'm glad I got to spend the weekend at home. I don't have a ton of work right now (strange, I know) so I would've just been sitting around my apartment with nothing to do. And now it's only going to be a couple weeks before I'm back again. My last day of lectures is on April 6th, which also happens to be Easter Monday. I thought that I wouldn't be able to go home till the weekend after. But apparently instead of the 6th being our normal classes, they're just bumping the Friday that we have off for Good Friday to Monday. And on Friday the only thing I have is a lab, which my prof said isn't happening since it's the last week. So I can come home for Easter :) And then I don't have an exam till the 17th, so I'll stay at home for a week, then go back. But to be honest, I wish my exams were all a week earlier so that I could be completely done earlier. Oh well. I'm not really stressed right now. In one of my classes I just have to do a presentation and then the rest of the time I'm just watching other people's presentations. Another class is the same situation. I'm not really sure what we're doing in one class, but there's no exam for that class so I'm not really concerned. There's really only two classes that I still am doing work in. Ha. It's funny I should think about this now because just earlier today I was talking to a family friend who is a teacher and she was saying that one of the hardest things for grade 9's to get used to is doing work right up until the end (as apposed to slacking off during the last month). But this semester is weird in that way - the rest of my semesters have definitely not been like this.
One thing I did this weekend was play old records on my grandma's record player that she said I could have. She also gave us a bunch of records. I love it. I just love looking at it and knowing that somehow the needle is picking up the music and sending it through the speakers. One of the only artists that I'm familiar with that my grandma had a record of was Elton John, so we were listening to his greatest hits as of 1970. The one thing that's annoying is that you have to flip the record over half way through the album. I don't mind doing it, but you only get like 15mins of music before you have to get up again and flip it over. But that aside, I really like it and if anyone wants to buy me a record of a modern album I'd probably love you forever.
I can't wait for camp to start :)
323. Simple but extremely complex. Favourite band?
Band, being more than one person and not just a singer, would probably have to be Bastille.
324. What was the last lie you told?
I have to spend 20hrs with my international peer mentee, and for our last meeting we spent just over an hour together, but on the sheet I wrote down that we spent 1.5hrs together.
325. Do you believe in karma?
Not really. Simple put, karma is "what goes around comes around". I believe that God will judge you based on your actions, so if you've been bad, then He'll treat you badly. But that's kind of a broader scope than I think karma looks at. I don't think that because I do something good today that something good will happen to me next week.
Thursday, 19 March 2015
Jimmy Fallon: Worship Leader (?!)
I think this article is a really good (short) read about worship leaders and Jimmy Fallon: read it here.
Tuesday, 17 March 2015
You know I'm bad at communication/ It's the hardest thing for me to do
Title from "The Wire" by HAIM
Today my friend and I were chatting in her car on the way to Stratford and she started talking about friends. She talked about how high school was rough for her, and that she felt like she didn't have a lot of friends. At first, this was shocking to me, because she's the kind of person who, after having one conversation with you, will deem you her friend. But as she continued to talk, I could see that they way she classifies friends varies significantly from the way you or I would. She went on to say that she has best friends, but then the people who most people would consider friends, she considers mere acquaintances. For her, a big part of friendship is seeing the other person, definitely more so than for me. Obviously seeing your friend contributes a lot to your relationship, but it soon became clear to me that she took the amount of time spent together as a direct indication of your friendship. She said that she didn't consider one of the girls in our group of four to be her friend. And not as in "you can't be my friend any more", but rather that she felt their relationship was fading away.
She clearly thinks about relationships and friendships more than I do. It's true that we haven't been able to hang out with our one friend for a while because of a variety reasons, but I wouldn't say our friendship with her is anything less than it was a couple months ago.
She had her birthday the other week, and quite a few people were not able to make it to her party. Some had legitimate reasons, others simply backed out at the last minute. Especially because she likes birthdays so much, this affected her quite a bit. She had hoped that by not putting a lot of effort or thought into planning the party (she simply asked people to hang out at a pub), that she wouldn't be as affected by it, but she was. So clearly this has been on her mind for a while if she was thinking about it before planning her party.
It's times like these that I wish I was more socially attuned to what to do in a situation like this. Obviously she needs comfort and reassurance, but I'm not great at providing that. I don't know how to. I tried, because I felt so sad that she thought I was her only friend. And while I wasn't able to completely reassure her, I think I did help a bit. I told her that we're all friends and that I enjoy hanging out with her. She feels things very deeply, so that meant a lot to her.
I was going to bring it up to the other two friends in our group, that she was feeling a bit down and it would be good if we could hang out all together. But then she said that I wasn't to tell anybody about what she said. While I understand her desire to keep her feelings and thoughts between us, it makes it a lot harder to try and help her. And I'm sorry I've betrayed her by talking about it here (although no one involved in the story knows about this blog), but I felt so helpless knowing this information, so I had to do something with it.
Today my friend and I were chatting in her car on the way to Stratford and she started talking about friends. She talked about how high school was rough for her, and that she felt like she didn't have a lot of friends. At first, this was shocking to me, because she's the kind of person who, after having one conversation with you, will deem you her friend. But as she continued to talk, I could see that they way she classifies friends varies significantly from the way you or I would. She went on to say that she has best friends, but then the people who most people would consider friends, she considers mere acquaintances. For her, a big part of friendship is seeing the other person, definitely more so than for me. Obviously seeing your friend contributes a lot to your relationship, but it soon became clear to me that she took the amount of time spent together as a direct indication of your friendship. She said that she didn't consider one of the girls in our group of four to be her friend. And not as in "you can't be my friend any more", but rather that she felt their relationship was fading away.
She clearly thinks about relationships and friendships more than I do. It's true that we haven't been able to hang out with our one friend for a while because of a variety reasons, but I wouldn't say our friendship with her is anything less than it was a couple months ago.
She had her birthday the other week, and quite a few people were not able to make it to her party. Some had legitimate reasons, others simply backed out at the last minute. Especially because she likes birthdays so much, this affected her quite a bit. She had hoped that by not putting a lot of effort or thought into planning the party (she simply asked people to hang out at a pub), that she wouldn't be as affected by it, but she was. So clearly this has been on her mind for a while if she was thinking about it before planning her party.
It's times like these that I wish I was more socially attuned to what to do in a situation like this. Obviously she needs comfort and reassurance, but I'm not great at providing that. I don't know how to. I tried, because I felt so sad that she thought I was her only friend. And while I wasn't able to completely reassure her, I think I did help a bit. I told her that we're all friends and that I enjoy hanging out with her. She feels things very deeply, so that meant a lot to her.
I was going to bring it up to the other two friends in our group, that she was feeling a bit down and it would be good if we could hang out all together. But then she said that I wasn't to tell anybody about what she said. While I understand her desire to keep her feelings and thoughts between us, it makes it a lot harder to try and help her. And I'm sorry I've betrayed her by talking about it here (although no one involved in the story knows about this blog), but I felt so helpless knowing this information, so I had to do something with it.
Monday, 16 March 2015
Life's for the living so live it, or you're better off dead
Title from "Life's For the Living" by Passenger
This weekend I had the great pleasure of having my sister come visit me in Waterloo. It was a ton of fun, and we packed so much into the 30hrs we had together. Freshly baked donuts were first on the list. We stopped at a bakery that I had never been to before, but according to reddit, had great donuts. And they did not disappoint. Then we headed to the mall in Kitchener. Next, unfortunately, was the looong bus ride back to my apartment (never before had I realized how much I ride the bus, and how much it would cost me if my student card didn't work as a bus pass). We then went to the World's Largest East Side Mario's for dinner. (I wonder why and how the World's Largest East Side Mario's is in Waterloo...). Back at the apartment, we watched Pitch Perfect, because that is a great movie (thank you J for Netflix). My favourite scene will always be the riff-off. On Sunday morning we went to Cora's for brunch/lunch. I had breakfast poutine, which was delicious. It was home fries with bacon, sausage, and cheese curds covered with hollandaise sauce and an egg on top :) Alison got pancakes with mini Oreos mixed in. That was also delicious (for the record, Cora's pancakes are huge - much larger than they appear in pictures on menus). Then we went to see Cinderella. It was well done, but because it's a remake, you already know what's going to happen, so the excitement from not knowing isn't there. But I would say still worth watching. One of the highlights was the short at the beginning, Frozen Fever. It was so cute. The songs were a bit of a let down, but there's little mini snowmen that are so cute :) Then I made dinner and we watched Friends.
Alison, we didn't have a lot of time together but we made the most of it and I'm so glad you're my sister. See you in 4 days ;)
320. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 23, give me line 17.
"A little brown house sparrow swoops out of the rafters and lands..." from All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.
321. What's your religion?
Christianity.
322. If you are outside, what are you most likely to be doing?
Going for a walk (whether that walk be just a walk or walking to a destination).
This weekend I had the great pleasure of having my sister come visit me in Waterloo. It was a ton of fun, and we packed so much into the 30hrs we had together. Freshly baked donuts were first on the list. We stopped at a bakery that I had never been to before, but according to reddit, had great donuts. And they did not disappoint. Then we headed to the mall in Kitchener. Next, unfortunately, was the looong bus ride back to my apartment (never before had I realized how much I ride the bus, and how much it would cost me if my student card didn't work as a bus pass). We then went to the World's Largest East Side Mario's for dinner. (I wonder why and how the World's Largest East Side Mario's is in Waterloo...). Back at the apartment, we watched Pitch Perfect, because that is a great movie (thank you J for Netflix). My favourite scene will always be the riff-off. On Sunday morning we went to Cora's for brunch/lunch. I had breakfast poutine, which was delicious. It was home fries with bacon, sausage, and cheese curds covered with hollandaise sauce and an egg on top :) Alison got pancakes with mini Oreos mixed in. That was also delicious (for the record, Cora's pancakes are huge - much larger than they appear in pictures on menus). Then we went to see Cinderella. It was well done, but because it's a remake, you already know what's going to happen, so the excitement from not knowing isn't there. But I would say still worth watching. One of the highlights was the short at the beginning, Frozen Fever. It was so cute. The songs were a bit of a let down, but there's little mini snowmen that are so cute :) Then I made dinner and we watched Friends.
Alison, we didn't have a lot of time together but we made the most of it and I'm so glad you're my sister. See you in 4 days ;)
320. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 23, give me line 17.
"A little brown house sparrow swoops out of the rafters and lands..." from All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.
321. What's your religion?
Christianity.
322. If you are outside, what are you most likely to be doing?
Going for a walk (whether that walk be just a walk or walking to a destination).
Thursday, 5 March 2015
Monday, 2 March 2015
So Will You Be My Life Support?
(title taken from Sam Smith's Life Support)
I am emotionally unstable right now. Case in point: I was taking a walk around campus to stretch my legs before class and I was listening to Sam Smith and I started crying (not a lot, but there were definitely sobs). I've never been like this before. I'm pretty sure it's a mix of everything that's been going on over the past couple weeks. I haven't been in my routine for over two weeks now and I don't like it. Although I'd much rather be at home doing nothing, I'm glad I'll be able to get back into my routine. Unfortunately I can't get back into my routine quite yet because I'm trying to catch up on work that didn't get done this past weekend. I have a midterm later this week and another one early next week, and I haven't started studying yet. And this basically leads back to my previous post about stress and not being able to cope.
This weekend I'm going on a day trip to Niagara Falls with my international peer mentee. It looks like it should be fun. The only thing I'm worried about it my mentee is bringing a friend so I'll probably become a third wheel on this expedition. But it should still be fun. And it will be a big step towards the 20hrs we need to spend together this term, which had me freaking out.
I'm just praying really hard that this all works out.
316. If you could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be?
Benedict Cumberbatch (and his wife and baby).
317. What do you think about most?
How I'm going to survive what's coming up next.
318. Ever had a poem or song written about you?
Only poems that start with "Roses are red / Violets are blue..."
319. Do you have any strange phobias?
Not that it's really strange, but I fear the unknown in the not knowing what's happening kind of sense. I don't fear the distant unknown. But more like if we're going out for a day, I need to know when we're going, who's going, why we're going, when we'll be back, etc.
I am emotionally unstable right now. Case in point: I was taking a walk around campus to stretch my legs before class and I was listening to Sam Smith and I started crying (not a lot, but there were definitely sobs). I've never been like this before. I'm pretty sure it's a mix of everything that's been going on over the past couple weeks. I haven't been in my routine for over two weeks now and I don't like it. Although I'd much rather be at home doing nothing, I'm glad I'll be able to get back into my routine. Unfortunately I can't get back into my routine quite yet because I'm trying to catch up on work that didn't get done this past weekend. I have a midterm later this week and another one early next week, and I haven't started studying yet. And this basically leads back to my previous post about stress and not being able to cope.
This weekend I'm going on a day trip to Niagara Falls with my international peer mentee. It looks like it should be fun. The only thing I'm worried about it my mentee is bringing a friend so I'll probably become a third wheel on this expedition. But it should still be fun. And it will be a big step towards the 20hrs we need to spend together this term, which had me freaking out.
I'm just praying really hard that this all works out.
316. If you could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be?
Benedict Cumberbatch (and his wife and baby).
317. What do you think about most?
How I'm going to survive what's coming up next.
318. Ever had a poem or song written about you?
Only poems that start with "Roses are red / Violets are blue..."
319. Do you have any strange phobias?
Not that it's really strange, but I fear the unknown in the not knowing what's happening kind of sense. I don't fear the distant unknown. But more like if we're going out for a day, I need to know when we're going, who's going, why we're going, when we'll be back, etc.
Sunday, 8 February 2015
Can I lay by your side, next to you, and make sure you're all right?
(title from Lay Me Down by Sam Smith)
(emotional rant to follow)
Something I've been struggling with recently is getting stressed with school work. I know that it's completely normal to be stressed about school, but it's not something I've really experienced before this year, so I don't know how to handle it. And occasionally I'll get so stressed that I can't even attempt to approach anything. There has been more than one occasion where I've cried myself to sleep because I'm so overwhelmed.
So far, nothing has actually failed to happen. I always manage to get myself together and finish what I need to finish. And in all of the "waves" I guess you could call them, of stress that I've had, I have made it through. But despite knowing this, I still get worked up about it. It doesn't help when it's group work and I can't control everything and know what's happening and when.
Something that I think is related to my stress is time passing. I have honestly never felt time pass so quickly in my life. This term is half over and I'm freaking out about that. I feel like I've done nothing over the past month. I keep thinking about how I spend my days. What did you do today? Everything I needed to (usually). I followed my routine. Well, that's great and all, but what did you do today? Nothing of any significance, that's for sure. I feel like my life is passing me by and I'm not doing anything. My weeks are the same, day in and day out. I have my routine down to such a specific schedule that I don't know what day it is. Maybe that's why time is passing so quickly. Because I've reduced each day to a schedule. I try and work things in. Especially over the weekend, I try to do something special. I yearn for contact with people, but once I have it all I can think about is the work I need to be doing.This weekend I did a lot of things, hanging out with friends and such. But it's still all gone already. Tomorrow the next week starts, and I'll go through the motions again. At least after this week, it's reading week and I can turn my brain off for a week.
As I'm writing this, I think that maybe I should forget my routine, and shake things up a bit. But I know that I wouldn't be able to handle not knowing when things are going to happen. Having a routine helps me plan how I'm going to do the things that aren't in my schedule. A routine is a definite must have. And now I sound like a magazine trying to claim that this year's colour is orange.
Well, this attempt at a distraction has been fun, and surprisingly revealing to myself about my thoughts. I don't know what you'll think of it, and I'm trying to tell myself that I don't care.
Never let Heather loose with her thoughts and a way to document them in the public eye.
Friday, 6 February 2015
Monday, 2 February 2015
Jesus Comes for Us
Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in Me. There is more than enough room in My Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. - John 14:1–3
I read this verse today and it made me think, that when people die, we always wonder why. Maybe God was punishing them for something they did; maybe Satan got to them. And occasionally, when we've come to terms with it, we think that maybe it was just their time to go. This verse made me think that maybe Jesus has finished preparing our place in Heaven, and He can't wait to show it to us, so He comes and gets us. Just a thought.
I read this verse today and it made me think, that when people die, we always wonder why. Maybe God was punishing them for something they did; maybe Satan got to them. And occasionally, when we've come to terms with it, we think that maybe it was just their time to go. This verse made me think that maybe Jesus has finished preparing our place in Heaven, and He can't wait to show it to us, so He comes and gets us. Just a thought.
Saturday, 31 January 2015
Relaxing night alone.
That sounds a lot more depressing reading it than it did in my head...
314. Anybody on tumblr you'd go on a date with?
Yeah, probably. I just don't know who they are.
315. Put your iTunes on shuffle. Give me the first 6 songs that pop up.
I'm doing this on my laptop, which has basically every song I've ever listened to on it, so this is bound to be wild.
1. Tchaikovsky: Symphony #5 In E Minor, Op. 64 - Andante by Yehudi Menuhin; Efrem Kurtz: Philharmonia Orchestra
2. Burning Ones by Jesus Culture
3. All I Ever Wanted (DJ Alex Extended Remix) by Basshunter
4. Sing Your Praises (Live) by Onething and Matt Gilman
5. Mercy by Casting Crowns
6. My Saviour God by Aaron Shust
I didn't think I had that much Christian music to get 66% Christian songs. But, there you have it.
That sounds a lot more depressing reading it than it did in my head...
314. Anybody on tumblr you'd go on a date with?
Yeah, probably. I just don't know who they are.
315. Put your iTunes on shuffle. Give me the first 6 songs that pop up.
I'm doing this on my laptop, which has basically every song I've ever listened to on it, so this is bound to be wild.
1. Tchaikovsky: Symphony #5 In E Minor, Op. 64 - Andante by Yehudi Menuhin; Efrem Kurtz: Philharmonia Orchestra
2. Burning Ones by Jesus Culture
3. All I Ever Wanted (DJ Alex Extended Remix) by Basshunter
4. Sing Your Praises (Live) by Onething and Matt Gilman
5. Mercy by Casting Crowns
6. My Saviour God by Aaron Shust
I didn't think I had that much Christian music to get 66% Christian songs. But, there you have it.
Thursday, 29 January 2015
Friday, 23 January 2015
As some of you may or may not know, I made a documentary last term about 1 Columbia, a high rise apartment building that wasn't ready for their move-in date. There's an article in the Record about it.
Thursday, 22 January 2015
310. Are you still friends with people from kindergarten?
No.
311. Have you ever fired a gun?
Yes. Not one powered with gun powder though.
312. Do you like to travel by plane?
Yes!
313. Do you have a tattoo?
No.*
*I tried looking online for a picture of a small tattoo that was in a place I could easily hide on a body that could believably be mine, or at least photoshopped to look like mine, and see if I could trick you. Alas, not a lot of people out there have small tattoos in places usually covered.
No.
311. Have you ever fired a gun?
Yes. Not one powered with gun powder though.
312. Do you like to travel by plane?
Yes!
313. Do you have a tattoo?
No.*
*I tried looking online for a picture of a small tattoo that was in a place I could easily hide on a body that could believably be mine, or at least photoshopped to look like mine, and see if I could trick you. Alas, not a lot of people out there have small tattoos in places usually covered.
Wednesday, 21 January 2015
Typography
I have a typography assignment. What are your thoughts on these? Specifically in terms of: which letters are larger than others, letters beside each other, patterns, and colour.
Sunday, 11 January 2015
Twolips
This is my second go at my drawing tablet, using the software that came with it. I used a feature called trace, so I was only responsible for the strokes and the program gave me the colour from the image below. It would choose the colour where ever you started the stroke and then keep that colour until you lifted the stylus. So basically, it did everything that would resemble talent. But, you have to start somewhere.
Friday, 9 January 2015
Lonely Friday Nights
I was going to go to Charge (P2C) this evening, but the bus never came, so that didn't happen. My friend who was also going got caught up with something with her family, so she couldn't make it either. Clearly we weren't meant to go tonight. But this meant that suddenly I had a Friday night ahead of me with nothing planned. So I made cookies. Red velvet with mini white chocolate chips. They're really tasty. And I didn't really do anything else. I was trying to fill a void, to be honest. My roommates went out with some friends to a pub/club (I'm not sure which) so I was alone. It got a little lonely. I was floating around on the internet but nothing interested me. I probably could have got some work done, but I used the excuse that it's Friday, so I should take a break.
I'm listening to You Raise Me Up by Josh Groban
306. Been caught doing something you weren't supposed to do?
Maybe more like something I was supposed to do but wasn't doing. When I was little we had to take these awful gummy vitamins. I hated them. So I started going to the bathroom immediately after dinner and I would spit it out into the garbage. I always made sure to cover it with a piece of toilet paper so I wouldn't get caught. I even crumpled the toilet paper so it wouldn't look so obvious. That lasted for a while. But one time when my mom was emptying the garbage, she found them. And not just one, but lots of them. I was caught. Thinking back on this now, it would have been smarter of me to not take the same colour gummy every time, because that immediately told my parents that it was me, and not my siblings, that was spitting them out. Occasionally, I would still spit them out, but in different garbage cans and wrapped in toilet paper. Thank goodness I don't have to take them anymore.
307. Do you have a best friend of the opposite sex?
Nope.
308. Have you ever loved someone?
Truly (not including family)? No.
309. Who would you like to see right now?
My family.
I'm listening to You Raise Me Up by Josh Groban
306. Been caught doing something you weren't supposed to do?
Maybe more like something I was supposed to do but wasn't doing. When I was little we had to take these awful gummy vitamins. I hated them. So I started going to the bathroom immediately after dinner and I would spit it out into the garbage. I always made sure to cover it with a piece of toilet paper so I wouldn't get caught. I even crumpled the toilet paper so it wouldn't look so obvious. That lasted for a while. But one time when my mom was emptying the garbage, she found them. And not just one, but lots of them. I was caught. Thinking back on this now, it would have been smarter of me to not take the same colour gummy every time, because that immediately told my parents that it was me, and not my siblings, that was spitting them out. Occasionally, I would still spit them out, but in different garbage cans and wrapped in toilet paper. Thank goodness I don't have to take them anymore.
307. Do you have a best friend of the opposite sex?
Nope.
308. Have you ever loved someone?
Truly (not including family)? No.
309. Who would you like to see right now?
My family.
Wednesday, 7 January 2015
Art! Creativity!
I got a drawing tablet for Christmas (!!!) and I wanted to try it out. So to celebrate the Cumberbaby, here's Benedict Cumberbatch and Sophie Hunter.
Sophie's dress was a pain. Eventually I'll colour it in or something. But not bad for my first time using a drawing tablet and...tracing a picture!
301. What books are you reading?
The Book of (Even More) AWESOME
302. Piercings?
One in each ear lobe along with a cartilage piercing on my left ear.
303. Butter, plain or salted popcorn?
Double caramel, actually.
304. Dogs or cats?
Cats.
305. Favourite flower?
Plumeria? Maybe? I don't have a favourite flower. Chrysanthemums are nice too.
The Book of (Even More) AWESOME
302. Piercings?
One in each ear lobe along with a cartilage piercing on my left ear.
303. Butter, plain or salted popcorn?
Double caramel, actually.
304. Dogs or cats?
Cats.
305. Favourite flower?
Plumeria? Maybe? I don't have a favourite flower. Chrysanthemums are nice too.
Monday, 5 January 2015
Saturday, 3 January 2015
I'm Back
Today was the ideal day to relax and go to bed early and get a good nights sleep. And so obviously I blew it. It's harder and harder to go to bed early, even if I want to. I'm back in Waterloo now, because I have training all day tomorrow for being an International Peer Mentor this semester. It's one of the requirements to get the Global Experience Certificate, which I'm going for. It will be interesting to see how it goes, because I am not the most outgoing person and I've never before attempted to communicate with someone who doesn't know English.
Coming back to Waterloo was easier than I was expecting. I was thinking that I would have to get used to my apartment all over again, but I slipped right back into my routine here, which is nice. I'm the only one back so far. My two friends are supposed to arrive tomorrow. The other two roommates I had last term are on co-op this term so I will be getting two new roommates. Well, one of them didn't find a subletter, so there might only be 4 of us in the apartment for a while. That would be nice, just to not have so many people in such a small space.
Well, here's to hoping this year, and more specifically, this term, goes well!
I'm listening to Songza's Reddit 100 Most Beautiful Songs.
298. Do you want your friends to respond to this?
Getting comments is one of my favourite things.
299. Who is most likely to respond to a text from you?
Definitely not my Dad. Probably my BFFLAAT. Or my mom.
300(!). Who is least likely to respond to a text from you?
Ha! My dad ;)
Coming back to Waterloo was easier than I was expecting. I was thinking that I would have to get used to my apartment all over again, but I slipped right back into my routine here, which is nice. I'm the only one back so far. My two friends are supposed to arrive tomorrow. The other two roommates I had last term are on co-op this term so I will be getting two new roommates. Well, one of them didn't find a subletter, so there might only be 4 of us in the apartment for a while. That would be nice, just to not have so many people in such a small space.
Well, here's to hoping this year, and more specifically, this term, goes well!
I'm listening to Songza's Reddit 100 Most Beautiful Songs.
298. Do you want your friends to respond to this?
Getting comments is one of my favourite things.
299. Who is most likely to respond to a text from you?
Definitely not my Dad. Probably my BFFLAAT. Or my mom.
300(!). Who is least likely to respond to a text from you?
Ha! My dad ;)
Thursday, 1 January 2015
Happy New Year!
My New Year's resolution is to write somebody a letter each week. All will go through snail mail. Keep an eye out for yours :)
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